Personal Care Products

The two personal care products I looked up are:

1. Kiehl's Amino Acid Shampoo

2. EltaMD Skincare UV Pure Face and Body Physical Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 47

For 1) Kiehl's Amino Acid Shampoo, I found:

Health Risks: The overall hazard is rated "moderate." The high concerns are multiple, additive exposure sources and contamination concerns. The main moderate concern is organ system toxicity. 

My Response to this new knowledge:

I was surprised to find out the toxicity rating of this product is 5. I think I should choose a product that is less toxic in the future. I was shocked to find that there was a moderate concern for organ system toxicity as this seems like a very concerning risk to be taking with something as non-essential as shampoo. I had no idea that regular personal care products could have this much toxicity without having to notify us. 

For 2) EltaMD Skincare UV Pure Face and Body Physical Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 47 I found:

Health Risks: This product has very low health risks. The overall hazard is low and the main high concerns are biochemical or cellular level changes, contamination concerns, and persistence and bioaccumulation. Although these risks are a little worrisome, the overall rating is very good and I feel comfortable with this product. 

My Response to this new knowledge:

I was surprised to find out the toxicity rating of this product is 1. Even though I really don't like the idea of having any toxicity in my products, I really love this product and will definitely still continue to use it despite the low toxicity. I do think it is awesome that this product has such low toxicity and it made me happy that I chose a really great lotion for daily use. I love this product and have been using it daily for years and I am definitely going to look at other products by this brand and make the switch if I can, now that they know they are committed to high-quality products that do not put their consumers at risk. 

Overall, I think everyone should know about the risks and the FDA should require companies to tell us more clearly in their advertising and product labels, exactly what the toxicity and risks associated with the use of their products are. I am shocked that we all are so oblivious to the risks and I think that the reason we don't know them is that it is in the companies' best interests to keep these risks hidden from consumers who are buying their products. It is so misleading and unfair that they are allowed to do this and we need stricter laws that regulate what they can put in our products and how they notify us of what is in our products.

COMMENT ON youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-kc3AIM_LU

My Comments: I thought Ken Cook's video describing the toxic chemicals found in newborns to be very informative and compelling. I thought the "10 Americans" description was a creative and effective storytelling approach that made his message even more impactful. I was taken aback when he finally shared that the "10 Americans" he was referring to were newborns and the blood samples for this study were taken from the umbilical cord. It is shocking to me that they found an average of 200 different chemicals in each baby (with 287 total different chemicals found). I was also particularly surprised that they found 212 chemicals that had been banned for 30 years before the samples were even taken. I found it very interesting to think about how environmental pollution can be passed down for generations. It is heartbreaking to think about the environmental justice aspect of this and how vulnerable and marginalized people suffer greater consequences than everyone else and the negative health impacts are being compounded over generations of being marginalized. I was surprised that this idea that environmental pollution begins in the womb is not more widely recognized and discussed. I found the information on the low amounts of various medications needed to have an effect on people to be particularly compelling. I would love to learn more about what precautions women planning to get pregnant should take and how far in advance they should start to think about changing their diet and medications prior to trying to conceive. Ken's talk was eloquent and easy to understand. His call-to-action to introduce public health legislation to protect people was highly motivating but felt especially disheartening given the assault on environmental and public health policies by the current U.S. President. I would love to see an updated study done today to see if things have improved or worsened since this video was published in 2012.